Iron and Fire

The day passed by in a blur. Or as much of a blur as time could get as a dragon. Ceto kept thinking back to the incident with the girl, Rose, in the hallway. He tried to think why Arin pointed her out in the first place. And why she had iron on her in the first place.

Coincidence? Probably. Ceto was forced back into reality as Arin snapped his fingers in front of his nose.

"Earth to Ceto. We got to finish this work before the Council meeting." Ceto sighed softly.

"Alright. Ask the question again." Arin sighed in exasperation. Ceto could see a shadow full in front of him.

"Why do humans go through college when the world will not be like that? Look at our centuries of life. All experience, no desks or tests." Ceto shrugged as his hand hovered over the paper.

"Because human life is trivial and fleeting. They live, they die. That is their world. And we must abide by it for now." Arin groaned.

"Oh come on." Ceto gave Arin a look."

"The Council says to lay low. This is what humans around the age we look-like do. We need to keep up this charade for the time being." Arin sighed again. "Question again?" Ceto repeated.

They continued to do homework that they had let pile up for the week. It was a good hour or two of struggling through stats, some science here and there and the start of an English essay that Ceto knew he would probably procrastinate on either was. That's when there was a knock on the door. Ceto heard how quick Arin got up that Arin's chair had toppled over in his wake.

Must have been bored. Ceto could never recall Arin being able to sit in one place for too long. Wasn't in his nature, both as a troublemaker and a wyvern. He always had to do something to keep him occupied.

There was a silence as Arin checked and opened the door. A small squeaky voice answered as the door creaked open.

"The Council will be starting their meeting." Ceto slowly stood up.

"Thank you Circe. We'll be there." She must have bowed and walked away as Arin shut the door.

"Sure we're ready for this Council meeting?"

"Why, do you see something?"

"I see you getting made at the Council again. So, nothing new." Ceto groaned slightly.

"Great." Arin clapped his shoulder and Ceto could feel his grin.

"Come on, Ceto. Papa is waiting for us." Ceto sighed and grabbed his hoodie.

"Alright. Lets go then."

They had easily snuck out of the house and headed down the road.

"Did you leave the portal in a well hidden place this time? Where the humans won't find it?" Psh. A noise that was all too common for Arin. That and a whoopee cushion, but Ceto digressed.

"Of course I did. How stupid do you think I am?" Ceto raised an eyebrow as Arin guided him down the street.

"I learned not to question that. Especially since the last one you put was in the storeroom of a strip club."

"How was I suppose to know that the "exotic dancers" as they called the would go in there? They usually stayed in the dressing room and stored many of their clothes with them."

"Peeping Tom, what were you doing in their dressing room?" There was a bit of silence. Not a good answer then.

"Nothing at all. Thinking about becoming a stripper for some extra cash on the side." Arin had said it in such a serious tone, Ceto couldn't tell if he was joking. "I'm kidding."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. My body is way too hot for being a stripper." Ceto rolled his eyes and realized that Arin couldn't see it below Ceto's bangs.

"Says the dragon with a pot belly."

"That's in dragon form. Leave me be."

"Still your fault that the girl got sent to our world and nearly became a dragon's slave." Arin must have shrugged.

"Everything worked out in the end. She was returned." To a straight-jacket.

But Ceto decided not to mention it. A guilty conscious did not sit well in dragons. It has never been a major worry. Living for centuries, you had to let things go. Not let it get to you because it would eat at you for a long while. Ceto was taught that to have one was a waste of time. There were times that he, himself, felt guilty, but held it back.

As they walked, Arin started to lead him onto something that wasn't exactly like the smooth sidewalk that it almost caused Ceto to trip up. He heard the twigs snap underfoot and the leaves moving in the breeze.

"Hid it in a park. Clever, eh?"

"Not your best idea, but at least you have thought of a place away from mortals." Arin chuckled as he grabbed Ceto to pull him through the bushes.

"Oh you have no idea." Ceto furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

"What do you mean?" Arin had started to drag him through more and more shrubs and bushes that batted at his legs.

"You'll see. You'll see." It was a few moments before Arin stopped in front of him, causing him to crash into him and almost topple to the ground.

"Arin, what had I told you about stopping abruptly?" Arin chuckled.

"You're going to hate me more in a few moments anyway." The hair on the back of Ceto's neck started to stand on end.

Uh-oh. He's planned something again. Arin guided him a few steps. Right up until Ceto hit something hard with his knee. He cursed in dragontongue, something that was an ancient and guttural sound that came from the back of his throat. A rough translation would have been filled with flowery language that Shakespeare would have written a whole sonnet about it.

"What the hell, Arin?" Ceto felt as if he was in front of a gaping hole.

"Watch your head."

"What?" That's when Ceto felt a shove and he topped over the edge of whatever was hard that he hit. "Goddammit Arin!"

But Ceto's words were caught in the wind as he fell into the portal. It was still a weird feeling to hear the wind rushing around them, and feeling the sudden shift. It was cold in the mortal world, and then it was blazing heat. It was a long transition, maybe a few moments, before Ceto popped out on the other side of it, colliding with the floor. He grunted slightly, his cheek pressed against the warm floor. He could feel the heat coming from the sun above him.

"That cheeky dragon... Once he gets down here..."

"Heads up!" Arin called out.

Ceto counted before Arin crashed to the ground where Ceto had been. Ceto had rolled off to the side as Arin crashed to the same spot. There was a cough from Arin as Ceto stood up.

"Couldn't have broken my fall, could ya buddy?" Ceto shook his head and extended his hand to help Arin up.

"Think of it as payback for you pushing me down a hole without warning." Arin chuckled and took Ceto's hand, pulling himself up. There was an oomph sound that came from Ceto.

"It wasn't a hole, it was a well. And tell me again how that is not clever enough? What human is going to fall in well?" Ceto rolled his eyes as he grunted, pulling his friend up.

"I don't know how many people have fallen in wells, but you are probably going to have to move it again." It was better to keep it away from them so that if the Knighthood found them, they didn't have a direct line to the dragon world. Ceto grunted as he finally brought his friend up. "Why do you always get heavier as you come through the portal? Do you just suck it all in in the mortal world or something?"

Arin chuckled again. "You forget how heavy we dragons truly are, Ceto."

A few silent moments passed, both of them dusting off. It was nice to be "home" But it wasn't something that Ceto associated with it. It was still a dream sometimes. One that was once in reach, but then it turned out to be a true fairytale.

"Well, we best be on our way. We're off to see the wizard, Toto." Arin laughed and his form had started to change next to Ceto.

Ceto had never really "seen" Arin's form, but more of felt it. It was one of the few things his friend could do to let him "see" things. Heat started to radiate to his right as Arin started to grow bigger and a billow of fire started to go off beside Ceto. The one things dragons really didn't have any control over is the transformation fire.

"Turn your head, Wyvern." Arin complained, but the billow of fire turned away from Ceto.

"Hurry up and change. We are probably late and your father will have our hide."

"Alright, alright." Ceto shook out his shoulders and focused.

Turning human was difficult, pulling all the dragon features away was almost unnatural. But it was one of the other ways that he could actually survive. But turning back into a dragon from said human form was harder. It was focusing on the fire that first created his line of dragons. Ceto knew the story too well. And it helped with the transformation back.

The story started with Gawain, the last dragon with a small clutch of eggs. The Knighthood had been hunting him for days as he was protecting a clutch of eggs. They chased him to the coldest reaches of the Earth. Age and cold started to get to the last true dragon, causing him to make one last ditch attempt to save his kind. He tried to keep them warm and safe with his own body. And with his dying breath, his dying fire, he put the rest of his fire spread across the four eggs. The last dragon died as the small clutch started to hatch. All of them started to mate with humans, continued the long line of "dragons" and dwimmerlakes. Gawain's fire continued to burn, bits of it transferred to the newer generations.

See, "dragons" were born without a flame until the elder of the clan gave it to them. Well, if the elder got to the hatchling in time. Because a dragon without a fire was a dead dragon... Or something worse. A stone they would turn into for the former, a horrible way to go for the later. But the fire that is brought out helps with that transformation.

Ceto focused on his own fire, the one elder who thought a blind hatchling was worth saving and allowed the flames to consume him. His skin started to harden and his fingers started to turn into talons. His mouth started to elongate and turn into a snout, his tongue turned serpent like as the rest of his body started to get bigger to compensate for the dragon form. From his shoulder blades sprung a pair of wings, dark as midnight and a lick of fire went through his mouth. All his senses went into hyperdrive, except his eyes, causing more of a shock through his system as he collapsed onto all four legs and let out a roar as his tail came out and wrapped slightly around him.

"Dramatic as ever." Arin huffed. Ceto rolled his shoulders, letting his wings unfurl fully.

"Shut up. We are going to be late." Arin's wings unfurled close by.

"Fine, fine. Though, we were going to be late either way." Ceto groaned as Arin took of and Ceto followed.

Taking a deep breath, Ceto's belly filled up and picked up the heavy body. And they headed toward the Council Halls.